Today Switzerland mainly evokes banks, watches and probably some expensive cheese. So the rural roots of this tough mountain country, the uncanny and rugged innocence of a village school is a wonderful revelation and reminder. The documentation is precious in its arrangement of this small but profound theme: the dream and reality of growing up in one's natural environment.

Captures the naivety of life - which includes the pain and suffering of daily living, but without the pride associated with it through 'maturity'. The children's essays are a brilliant window into the contradictions of experience.

I enjoyed the look at rural Swiss life in the 60s, but thats about it. Extra star added for the location photography, otherwise not much to recommend here. I found the narration dull and uninspired. 2 stars

Charming, eg “die Lehrerin”, or Nils who had 'frights' on the way to Lapland. But perceptibly uncanny: Children’s voices, & their child’s perspectives of the world, represented through this distinctly adult lens. Something sombre & reflective; already nostalgic when it was made (& Nestler’s ‘kids’, by now maybe w/ grandkids that age…) Subtly, hauntingly distanced with space for winds to howl between image & word. 3.5

The footage gives us a brief glimpse into the life of a small school in Swiss mountains in the 1960s. I appreciated this part of the film; there doesn't seem to be much behind it though, and the whole experience left me rather indifferent, perhaps something was lost "in the translation"...

I don't mind subtitles but I think I would've liked this better if I spoke the language of the film. The emotional resonance of the children's voices would've likely been much more palpable. The visual material didn't do much for me. Would love to read this as a short book, there's definitely a poetry to it.

An interesting take on school days in a small Swiss village. It's a smart idea to hand over the narration to the kids themselves, who have an incantatory quality to their stilted speech. It's reminiscent of The Langley Schools Project in its roughly hewn, unschooled eloquence.

A beautiful short film i would have loved to shoot myself. Simply a great concept, where sounds and images compliment each other nicely. There is poetry is the texts, but the voices are naturally an important element as well : so much personality passes through the voice. I did not know Peter Nestler. I surely want to see more now.